ALLOA boss Peter Grant was left seething with the referee's performance in Saturday's defeat against Greenock Morton.

Grant's side lost the league opener 1-0 and he was booked for his protests after Lee Connelly was through on goal and brought down by a Morton defender in what appeared a certain penalty.

The decision was not given and then from an Alloa free kick in a dangerous opposition, the home side broke up the park and scored.

A fuming Grant told Advertiser Sport: "[There was] a lot of very good stuff, we lost the game because of the referee's decision. A scandalous decision.

"We played really well but it spooked us for about 10 or 15 minutes because it was such a bad decision.

"Then we got back in control of it and we controlled it for 85 per cent of the game.

"We created chances and missed them. I can't remember Reece [Willison] having a save to make.

"Very poor defending cost us dearly because Reece never had another save to make, they had a couple of headers over the bar and that was the only way they were going to score to be perfectly honest with you because they never had the ball.

"We hit the bar and we should have had another penalty kick," the gaffer continued: "At the time, I didn't think so, you think you're just shouting because it's late in the game, but you watch it back and, woah, handball.

"Anyone – anyone – who's at the game [on Saturday] knows it's a stonewall penalty. Then it's a completely different game, that's for sure."

Despite the manager's frustrations, there's still plenty of positives he's taking from the match.

He said: "In saying that, I'm delighted with the way the boys kept going. There's a lot of things that I'm helluva pleased with, apart from maybe not scoring.

"We had too many chances that we missed, but in general play, a lot of the stuff, considering the circumstances we were playing under, I was very, very pleased with.

"I'm pleased all round, there was a lot of good things but the overriding frustration is how we lost the game: bad defending for the goal and an absolutely disgraceful decision."

The team now look ahead to Saturday's match against Dunfermline Athletic and a reunion with Kevin O'Hara.

Grant said: "They've done really well in their recruitment to have Kevin coming back who done fantastically well for us. They look a very good side and have a very good squad.

"As I've said many times and will continue to say, I'll take anybody toe-to-toe, no problem, with the players I have because I have very good players.

"We just have to be more clinical at one and not give away silly goals at the other end.

"Hopefully, we're talking about the football and the performance next week and not the referee."